Our Differences

A Rainy Day

I was casually propped up against the gnarly, old, oak tree at the very back of the school's yard. Barely anyone was outside as the weather was bitterly cold, with rain falling from the slate grey sky. Where I leaned under the massive tree, the rain would hit me every once in a while, when the ice cold drops could slip through the thick canopy above. In this atmosphere, I could think clearly, and breath in fresh air without being surrounded by groups of my so called peers.

 "Matt! what are you doing out here in the rain?", I looked to my left and saw a short, fair haired girl running over to me with a bright pink umbrella held over her head. I sighed and stood up, waiting for her to reach me. "Why are you out in the rain Sam?", I mimicked her as she stopped a few feet away from me, panting and trying to catch her breath. She had a chubby, round face and hazel eyes which were covered by her long, bleach blonde hair as she bent over in exhaustion. I walked over and took the umbrella from her hand, and stood holding it above her. 

"I was..", she paused to take a deep breath, "I was looking for Dean but he wasn't inside the dorms or the school". I rolled my eyes, Samantha had liked Dean since we were eight, but as the years passed Dean proved to be a real player, although he never went for anyone in our friend group. "What did you want him for? I thought you knew he'd be in town around now", it was nine and just beginning to become dark outside due to it being summer, which meant Dean was most likely out in a club. He'd gotten a lot worse with his partying since we had all started college, I was surprised he got in in the first place. "Oh, yeah, I should've guessed", she sighed and looked down at her now soaked sneakers. "C'mon, I'll walk you back to the dorms", I put on a smile and tugged her by her jumper's collar, she swatted my hand away and sighed, "alright", and started to walk ahead of me.

The campus grounds looked dreary in the grey atmosphere, and as we walked the only colour that was promiment around us was the red bricks the walls of the school that was now infront of us. It was an older building, victorian, with large windows and was towering in height, its shadow loomed over us as we strolled along the path leading towards the similiar dorm room buildings.

 As we got inside, Sam closed her umbrella and wiped her shoes on the mat infront of the door, "it's good to finally be inside, I was freezing my ass off out there!", she laughed and started to head up the thin, wooden staircase that was to our left. I followed her as we went up to the third floor, her room was number thirty five and I watched as she unlocked the door.

 "You comin' in or are you just gonna stand there?", I looked up from the door to see Sam standing there with her arm gesturing for me to go inside."Oh, yeah sorry I spaced out", I walked inside and looked around the familiar room. Sam shared it with another girl whos name I could never remember, it was something like Ally, but she never spent time in her dorm and was always sleeping with a different guy. 

Her side of the room was pretty plain, she obiviously liked red as her bed sheets and lamp were the same blood red shade. Apart from those colours the rest was just plain oak wood furniture with a few magazines in the right hand corner. 

Sam's side on the otherhand was complete chaos. It wasn't untidy, but there was so many colours and posters and comics on the walls and in the shelves that it looked like a mess. Samantha was never one for makeup or clothes or shopping, for as long as I'd known her she had been either glued to a screen of some sort of console or reading a comic. Nowadays she still enjoyed this, as you could tell by the contents of her room, but on the outside she looked like any ordinary girl, not like when we were young and she would always wear bright t-shirts with game logos or characters on the front.

 "Hey! Matt, were you listening to me?", I came back from my thoughts when I heard Sam clicking her fingers, she was now sat on her bed, which was covered in a Pac-man bed sheet, and looking annoyed at me."No, sorry", I sighed and sat down beside her, "you're always in that head of yours, anyway what I was saying is that Dean really needs to sort his shit out", Sam was usually quite joyful but she sounded pissed, "I don't know if he will anytime soon, we've tried to get him to stop going out before remember? He didn't exactly take that too well".

 In our first year of college, Sam, our other friends Nathan and Lily and myself all confronted Dean about his nightly habits and tried to convince him to stop before he started to fail his classes. In the end it was pointless, we started seeing less of him after that and he started going out more with his other friends, we only really see him during school times now. 

"I know, but we're graduating soon and if he doesn't do well what is he going to do, work in a fast food place for the rest of his life?", Sam let out a frustrated grunt and let herself fall onto her bed. "Why don't you tell him that then, c'mon Sam we all known you've liked him for ages, maybe if you tell him your feelings and your worries he'll listen", I got up and pulled her along with me to where she was sitting again. She looked up at me and I patted her head, "I guess that might work, thanks Matt", she smiled and got up.

 "So you wanna play some Mario Kart?", back to her joyful self Sam held up two Nintendo DS consoles, one was white and the other pink, both looked used but worked perfectly fine. "Sorry Sammy, I have to get going, I told some girls in my class I'd help them study", I smiled a tired smile, "those poor girls", Sam laughed, I raised my eyebrow at her. "Oh nevermind, isn't it obvious they just want to spend time with you?", she smirked "you are known to be the college heartthrob afterall!", I looked at her in mock surprise, "really? I always wondered why girls would horde around me, thanks for finally explaining it to me!", I couldn't contain my sarcasm. "Ha! Good luck with the studying", she said studying like she meant something else but I just ignored her and walked out of the room, 

I don't flirt or make moves on anyone.

Author's Note: When I say college in this story I refer to what some may call university, while this is set in England I didn't use that term as I was personally confused while writing it as where I am from university is called college :P.